Stick by Me
by satans assistant
Summary: What would Yoriko do if she found out her best friend was a ghoul? Would she over look that, or become fixated on that one and only fact? Oneshot! My first fic for Tokyo Ghoul / Touka x Yoriko


**A/N: really lame one-shot. Might do a longer story with them in the future? Please tell me what you think! I haven't finished the Tokyo Ghoul manga yet and am only on chapter 70-something, so I'll be using my knowledge of past chapters for this fic! Because I read so much at once I might not have everything that's canon, I guess. I hope Touka isn't too OOC? Sorry if she is, I tried really hard to keep her in character but/ this is like the shittiest thing I've ever wrote I'm so sorry**

* * *

School was a hard thing for Touka, especially when it was lunch, but at least she had a friend to look forward to everyday.  
"I studied so hard for the test too - ah, well, I guess next time I should try even harder," Yoriko spoke, unwrapping her lunch. She looked up at Touka, "Hm? Did you bring anything today?"  
The girl nodded, feeling her stomach knot already. She took out her lunch, "Jam sandwich. Like always," She gave a small smile to try and let her friend know she was alright, but it didn't work.  
"I've told you that won't help you grow! You need to eat, Touka. Here," She reached into her bag and pulled out another small lunch box and handed it to the ghoul, "I packed an extra lunch, just in case!"

Touka tried to keep her expression the same but on the inside she already wanted to vomit. She couldn't let her know, though - not when she was one of her only closest friends. Taking the lunch box a bit hesitantly, she smiled, "Jeez. Stop worrying so much, Yoriko. Well - thanks for the meal," She opened it up and ate - and although she was used to eating by now it still left a horrible feeling and taste in her. Each chew was like it's own hell but she couldn't stop, she couldn't let her know.

"Ah, is it no good?" The blonde's voice snapped Touka out of her thoughts and she gave another smile,  
"No, no, it's great. I'm just - tired. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She continued to shove the food in her mouth to finish it quicker while Yoriko gave her a worried look,  
"Is something going on? You know you can tell me, right?"  
"I... know." She swallowed hard and finished the rest of the lunch, "Nothing's going on, Yoriko. Trust me. I just stayed up too late studying and I lost track of the time - really, you don't have to worry about me."  
"Hmmm.." Yoriko knit her brows and continued to eat her own lunch, "Well, it's pretty hard not to worry! I mean, you're my best friend! I want to make sure you're ok all the time!"

Yoriko's smile pierced through Touka's heart. What if she found out that she was a ghoul? Would she still care this much about her? _Best friend_? Was she _really_? Or was she only friends with who she _thought _was Touka?

"Ah," the ghoul stood up and picked a piece of rice off of Yoriko's cheek, "Maybe I should be the one worrying about you - but I gotta go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."  
The blonde's face flushed, "O-ok!"

* * *

Throwing up human food was one of the worst experiences for Touka, no matter how many times she's done it. Her insides crunched and seized up inside her and she felt disgusting inside and out. She could've refused the food - but that would've made her look more suspicious and would've made her friend feel horrible. She had worked so hard on that meal, just for her - she wasn't going to just flat-out refuse it.  
She wished she could taste food and not be some disgusting monster. She wanted to taste all the effort her friend had put into something just for her, taste the love that went into all of it. It made her want to scream.

_All this effort put in for someone who can't even taste it. What a joke. She deserves a better friend._

She stood up on shaky legs and flushed the vomit down, taking a deep breath and wiping at her mouth. She had to look like she was ok.

When she walked back to class and sat down, she noticed that Yoriko still looked as worried as she did before she left. Touka raised a brow,  
"Everything alright?"  
"Y-yeah! But, hey, I was just wondering, could I come over tonight? It is a Friday after all, and I was thinking maybe I could actually spend the night if that's ok with you - we haven't hung out in a while, and I need some help with my math. You're really good at it, right?"  
"Uh -" Touka didn't know what to say. She couldn't just say no - but she had Hinami living with her now. How would she explain that? "Well, my dad is still overseas but- I mean, I'm already watching over a distant cousin of mine, so..." She had to lie through her teeth, that was the only way she could pull this off. However, the smile on Yoriko's face relaxed her,  
"Great! I'm so excited - I'll come over at 5, how's that?"  
"Perfect." _It wasn't_. How was she going to explain this to Hinami?

* * *

"We're having a human over? For the _whole night_?" Hinami had a tinge of fear in her voice and she couldn't help but have her breath get hitched in her throat.  
"Yeah - but just - don't worry, ok? I know her. She won't notice anything weird as long as we act like we usually do. It'll be annoying, yeah, but you could probably get away with hiding out in your room."

She wanted to say, '_Yoriko's nice! Even if she finds out it's not like she'll rat us out!' _but she couldn't. That would be one of the biggest lies she'd told today. Just like her aunt, if she found out or even suspected it, she'd turn them both in to those CCG bastards. She promised to protect Hinami no matter what, and she was going to stick to that promise.

When 5 rolled around she opened the door and let Yoriko in, hoping she wouldn't notice the weird atmosphere.  
"Wow! It's very nice here," She slipped off her shoes and walked into the living room, "Ah - your cousin! Can I meet them?"  
Touka chewed on the inside of her cheek, taking a deep breath before letting it out, "Yeah! Hold on a sec," She walked into Hinami's room as Yoriko took a seat on the couch and waited patiently for her to return.

Poking her head in the room, she tried to keep her voice as low as possible, "Hinami! She's here. With your change of clothes and haircut, she shouldn't recognize you from those posters the shitheads put up."

The girl hesitantly stood up from her bed and walked out of her room, following Touka.  
"Well, here she is," She waved in front of Hinami, who gave a small bow,  
"Hello," she murmured.

Yoriko stood up, "Hi! Nice to meet you, I'm Yoriko!"  
"Nice to meet you... I'm Hinami." Her voice was low and quiet, feeling that at any moment the CCG were going to burst in here and kill her just like they did with her parents. The thought scared her but she knew she had to stay calm in front of Touka's friend. '_Don't let her think something weird is going on.'_  
"Well, Hinami has a lot of studying to do so she'll be in her room! Don't hesitate to ask for anything, ok?"

She shook her head and left, Touka taking a seat next to Yoriko and turning on the TV. She turned her head to look at her,  
"You want to change out of your school uniform? That can't be comfortable."  
"Oh! Yeah, I forgot I was wearing it," she gave a small chuckle, "I was so excited to see you I didn't even notice it while I left the house. That must've been why my mom gave me such a strange look!"  
Touka beamed at her and stood back up, "Here, I'll show you the bathroom. You can get changed in there."

She lead her friend to the restroom and let her get changed, all the meanwhile hoping nothing looked weird or out of place. Just the slightest thing could make Yoriko suspicious of something, and she wanted to make sure that of all things that happened, that didn't. Maybe she was just paranoid, but it couldn't hurt to be extra careful of things.

When the blonde was done getting changed they walked back into the living room, Touka turning on the TV and sitting on the floor quickly. The news channel was on by default, and she quickly changed it over to a game show.  
"Oh, that's right! My math homework," Yoriko spoke up, reaching in her bag for her notebook and pens and sitting down next to Touka, sliding her legs under the kotatsu. She put the notebook on top of it and opened it up, "Now, I was having some problems here..." She pointed,  
"Well, first of all you messed this up," Touka moved closer to her, leaning in to get a better look at her work. Yoriko's face flushed,  
"Oh jeez, that's so embarrassing!"  
"Don't get so worked up about it. I made this mistake before a lot of times," she reassured her, "Now, right here..." She grabbed a pen and moved her arm around Yoriko's shoulders to write, "... is where you messed up," drawing an X over the equation, she rewrote it, "See, you want this to be over here and not here, get it?"  
Yoriko's face was a bright red - Touka then realized her arm was around her for a bit too long and took it back to her side. She couldn't help but blush a bit herself - why was she getting so worked up over this?

She continued to help the blonde with her work for the next few hours, and before they knew it, it was already 7.  
Yoriko stretched, "Thank you so much! I know I can always count on you," She wrapped her arms around Tokua in a tight embrace that caught the other girl off guard,  
"Heh, yeah, don't mention it." The hug made her heart beat a few times quicker, and as she let go she felt relieved - but also a longing for that hug back.  
When Touka started flipping through channels, she stopped on the news. Another talk of ghouls and how they were _horrible_. So so _horrible_. She grit her teeth and was about to change the channel when Yoriko spoke up,

"That''s pretty scary, don't you think? That they can just blend in with us and then... " Touka swallowed hard,  
"Yeah. That is pretty crazy. I dunno. What do you think of them?"  
"Hm? Like, what do you mean?"

Maybe this was pushing boundaries, but she had to know.

"What do you think they're like? I mean - think about it. You can only eat people. Wouldn't that make you pretty grumpy?"  
"Well, yeah... But at the same time, I don't know how someone could be able to eat people. And when I think of that, I get really scared and disgusted a little bit," the words stung through Touka, even if they weren't meant to, " - But then I try to think if they have families. I mean, if you had to do that to keep them alive... But why kill innocent people? I don't know how I feel about it. All I know is, it's scary and I just hope it'll go away or something - you know?"

Touka nodded, "Yeah..." She took a long pause before speaking up again, "What if someone you really liked turned out to be a ghoul? What would you do then? Would you turn them in?" She felt her chest grow tight with each second that passed by without a word. Would this give her away? She could feel a cold sweat forming on the back of her neck and she tried hard to ignore it.  
"Well, I dunno. It would depend. I mean, if it was you -" Tokya stopped breathing at that moment, "Then I think I'd be ok with it. I mean, you're my best friend... And you're so nice and caring. I figure if you'd want to eat me, you would've done it already, right?" She looked over at her friend and tried to smile. However, her smile soon faded when she realized that Touka might not just be asking a question.

She moved over to her on the floor and looked at her intently until their eyes met,  
"Touka?"  
The ghoul bit down on her lip hard and couldn't help stop the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. Could she trust her?

"Touka, I dunno what's going on but... You can tell me, right? I mean - I - I _love _you, you know that right? I care about you a lot. Please tell me if something's wrong."  
"I-I'm a ghoul," she blurted out, not able to hide it anymore. She was being careless and she knew that, but she couldn't take her words back. Yoriko was shocked, but that didn't stop her from wrapping her arms tightly around the other girl.

"I told you, you can tell me anything. And here I was, making you eat actual food... But you ate it... I dunno what to say I mean - that means we're really friends right?" She pulled away from her and looked Touka in her now tearful eyes, "And like I said - if you wanted to eat me you would've done that already, right?" She gave a warm smile to Touka.  
"You - you're not going to turn me in are you? Please, Yoriko, I -"  
"I promise, I won't! I told you, I love you. I don't want anything bad to happen to you. I might not like the idea of you eating humans, but... I don't want the idea of having you taken away from me."

It was hard to trust her, hard to believe her words. She couldn't.

"Please, Yoriko, I'm begging you. I never asked for this life. I try so hard to just live. I don't kill innocent people just to eat, you have to believe me -"  
"I do! Of course I do. You were always there for me, Touka! So I'm gonna be here for you too. I'll believe every word you say."  
All the girl could do was stare at her friend. Is this what it was like to have actual trust in a human? Like with Nishiki and Kimi?

"I want to believe you, I really do. But it's hard for me -"  
"I can only imagine," she reached over and grabbed Touka's hand, giving it a tight squeeze, "Touka, I think I've liked you ever since the day I met you. You stood up for me. You ate my food even though you could've refused it. You talk to me and listen to me and help me with school - I might not understand fully what it's like being a ghoul but I can try!"

She didn't expect her to be so ok with it. The whole situation just baffled her, if anything.

"Yoriko... Thank you." The warm tears that fell from her face landed onto their entwined hands and she wiped at her face, "I - I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."  
"Don't be sorry! I mean, I understand... It's ok."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Touka piped up again,

"I love you too," she muttered, feeling her face heat up in pure embarrassment. The blonde's eyes widened and she let go of her hand, cupping Touka's face in her hands,  
"I'm so glad!" She smiled widely and pressed their foreheads together, pulling Touka's hair back and wiping at the edge of her eyes with her thumbs, "You're not just saying that to make me happy, are you?"  
"Tch," she grinned and pinched Yoriko's cheek lightly, "I'm saying it because I mean it, dummy," she lightly grabbed the back of Yoriko's neck and took a deep breath, pressing her lips against hers quickly. She pulled away almost immediately and looked away from the blonde.

"Your lips are soft, Touka! Not what I expected..." she chuckled,  
"Oh yeah? What did you expect, huh?" Touka grinned at her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder again and pulling her in closer.  
"You're not as rough and tough as you look, huh?"  
"Excuse me?"

Yoriko laughed and kissed at Touka's neck, "You're really sweet under that tough girl exterior, you know. I like it."  
Touka's face flushed, "Whatever."

She still didn't know if she could fully trust Yoriko, but if Nishiki can trust Kimi, than she can trust Yoriko.


End file.
